Worcester Warriors Rescue Stranded Motorists In Devon

A rugby team turned Good Samaritans when they came to the rescue of some stranded motorists in Devon – by shifting an 80ft fallen tree.

The tree had blocked a country road near Exeter, leaving motorists stuck in both directions.

More than twenty players from the Worcester Warriors had been travelling by coach to Exeter when they came across the obstacle.

Mike Layzell from Honiton found himself stuck in his lorry on the opposite side of the road, the B3179 near Exeter. He says: “There was no way I could have moved that tree myself. It must have been 80ft tall and it would have weighed four or five tonnes.

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“I couldn’t have gone round it because the road is only two cars wide, so I just had to sit there and wait.

“Just by chance, the Worcester Warriors’ coach turned up. At first, I thought it was a coach load of elderly people so I went to tell the driver what was going on.

“I said we would have to wait there for a while until the land owner came back with a chainsaw. When I said that, he said, ‘no way, I’ve got 25 rugby players on here’.”

With that, the strong bunch piled off the coach and tackled the tree in minutes, allowing drivers to pass.

Unfortunately for them, the Exeter Chiefs, beat them 50-12 on Saturday. As Mike says, “maybe they had worn themselves out.”